Queenfisher

Lol, I feel that I have to write some small warnings almost in every chapter from now on because the nature of the book does go deeper into the issues of Master Orders, consent, free will, etc in the recent developments. It can get a bit frustrating to see Nekohiko and others strain the limits of what constitutes his free will and choices he makes.

So again, like before -- brace yourselves. I will not abuse Neko like that. All the clues of "why it works like this?" and "is his mind being influenced or not?" are kinda in the chapters themselves if you look carefully at his inner reactions. Or in other words -- if you worry his free will gets overruled here -- check what he feels and thinks. His reactions are usually in the open about all that, even if he himself cannot tell what is exactly happening to him. Or not happening to him >_>.

The proper explanation of why these orders work the way they do, though, won't come for a while after . But it makes sense, I promise ^^.

Chapter Seventy-Five

Trapped! With Girls!

"Kataji!" Nekohiko breathed, skipping the last step of the stairs. But he came to a halt when he saw Kataji's face, worn-out and pained as it was.

The young man looked terrible. Even though, compared to Nekohiko and Mikawa -- Kataji had spent the night sleeping, he still had enormous blue shadows around his eyes and an overall sunken, sick appearance. He frowned and shook his head, cringing when the headache struck him in response to even such a small motion.

Oh? So not only not well-rested, but also not free from the aftereffects of drunkenness?

Nekohiko had not expected this. He'd been certain that Morokata would take care of these things as soon as possible, but apparently he'd allowed Kataji to bear the full brunt of the drunkenness through the night?

Cruel. Or educating?

Nekohiko opened his arms to gently draw Kataji in when he waded toward the staircase. Kataji glanced up, wincing once more.

"I need to get my things," he whispered, not really pushing Nekohiko away, but not leaning into him either. "I can... walk by myself... You don't need to hold me--"

"Of course I do." And Nekohiko simply swept Kataji off his feet, getting him into his arms in a maiden-carry position.

If Kataji was dismayed by this, he was too stunned and too ill to react. Yet, at least.

Nekohiko was sure he'd hear all about this once he and Kataji were safe in their room. So, with a defeated sigh, he went up the steps and to their room.

Mikawa flinched to help put Kataji down on the bed, but Kataji finally regained most of his haughtiness to shoo both of them away. He slid down Nekohiko's arms clumsily and sagged onto his bed, hugging his own knees, watching Nekohiko from down below with a dumbfounded, hurt expression.

"You dare to... drag me around like that," he squeezed out at last. "What for... it's not like you care about me anyway."

"What?" Nekohiko sat down beside him. "How can I not care about you?!"

Without a single word more, Mikawa spun around and marched out of the room. Nekohiko couldn't say if the boy was terribly annoyed at him and Abi brothers by now, or if he simply had no heart to witness something so intimate -- but he noted that Mikawa closed the door quite hard.

Which prompted Kataji's moan and a shudder at the surge of headache from the noise.

"Come on." Nekohiko slipped in front of Kataji, reaching his hands to Kataji's temples, already assembling a spell formation for lifting the effects of pain and the hangover. And maybe for refreshing Kataji's mind overall since he didn't look rested at all.

But Kataji slapped his hands away. "No. You won't use any magic on me. I hate Binding," he croaked, his fingers searching through his collars for something. A small piece of paper. No -- a pamphlet. One of those that Nekohiko had seen quite a lot recently.

The Non-Binders' Revolution to throw down the magical oppressors.

Nekohiko took the pamphlet in, then Kataji's blazing gaze.

Gods, Kataji. Why now, of all times? No wonder Morokata hadn't lifted any of the bad aftereffects of alcohol from Kataji! The young man must have refused all offers.

"I only want to help," Nekohiko said.

"I don't want your help. Or your care. Not if you do this and tell me again how you only want friendship and trust and happiness in this life, but then turn around and go meet my brother behind my back!" Kataji gritted out, grimacing at the migraine this outburst gave him. "And for what... to snog him and make out in front of several other people?"

...

What.

Nekohiko's mouth fell open. "Erm..."

"Yes, I can read where you go -- but not why or if you're safe there. So I asked the only person who was present around you and who would tell me. And that person said that you were making out in the Emerald Palace all through the dinner and got yourself disgustingly drunk in the process."

Morokata, damn him!

He had omitted quite a few important details in that recount, though.

"Which -- I completely understand," Kataji went on, miserable. "Getting disgustingly drunk is worth it. Absolutely. Would do again. Maybe even tonight. Or tomorrow, during the wedding reception, ha-ha."

Nekohiko ignored the jabs and focused on the thing that frustrated him most.

"What does it matter to you where I go and why?" he asked. "Didn't you tell me I'm a free person and could do whatever I want, like a true equal of yours? Yet then you spy on what I do in my private time...?"

"I was worried," Kataji spat. "You disappear and then you're gone for hours at a time, in the city where a certain doll-making freak can steal you at any time to abuse you when I'm not looking. Or when a certain perverted brother of mine can order an entire garrison of his guards to come and take you whenever he wants. Of course I was worried -- what do you think!"

"Are you sure that's the only explanation, Kataji?" Nekohiko's gaze intensified on Kataji's face as he leaned closer and closer. "What is the true reason why you are so intent on helping me, or on following everything I do, or especially -- with whom I spend my time and how?"

Kataji drew back, hurt. "Do you... mean that I have ulterior motives?" He huffed, devastated.

Frankly?

Ah, Nekohiko didn't even know what to think. "Most people wouldn't do even half of what you do for me, Kataji. Mikawa did only a little bit, but he has his limits. And so does Aomi, and so does Kasuga. Yet you... you go way beyond what any person would for another. For an utter stranger, too." Nekohiko dropped his chin in dejection. "Forgive me for doubting you, but your kindness to me is... too incredible to be real. Unless it wants something in return..."

"The first day we met," Kataji began, raspy, "do you remember? I didn't want to do anything with you."

I do. I actually do remember that.

Nekohiko bit his lip. "What changed?"

"But then Aomi came to us and she asked, 'Who are your people, Itsuki? Do you not have friends? Family? Anyone who would miss you or care about you?' Now, do you remember what you told her in response?"

...

Back then, he had only wanted to keep his identity private, so Nekohiko guessed he must have lied somehow. Or changed the topic...

He waited for Kataji to go on, already dreading what the hell he'd lied about that day.

Kataji must have sensed his confusion. Tiredly, he smiled.

"You said, 'No. I only have Kataji'. And that was all, Itsuki." His youthful, ill face looked so forlorn now, Nekohiko's heart panged with such tenderness.

"I guess nowadays, you do have Aomi. And Mikawa. And Kasuga, and Morokata and even my brother, don't you?" Kataji continued, blinking fast. "But back then, when you said you have nobody -- only me -- it made me feel... special. For the first time in my life. Somebody had thought I was everything to them." He laughed, his voice breaking. "Just how desperate you must have been, to view me as the only person to depend on! It made me feel so protective of you. Like a heartache I couldn't ignore. You still are."

Kataji's eyes clung to Nekohiko's, searching for something within them. "But I suppose you've lied back then, too. Right? You only said that because you had no other choice..."

"No. Kataji," Nekohiko started.

"And then, you've told me countless times how you and I can never be equals because you depend on me so much more than I depend on you. But that's not true, not at all." Kataji raised his hand to cover Nekohiko's mouth when Nekohiko tried to speak up. "I do depend on you. You are the only person to have ever really needed me. It's all right. Perhaps you don't want me, or don't feel for me. But you need me. That's... enough, too."

Nekohiko didn't push Kataji's hand off his mouth however much he hated the terrible sensation of an unwanted touch. Kataji was right.

Nekohiko did need him. Today, especially. Nekohiko wanted to pay him back with something sweet, but he knew just his kindness alone wouldn't suffice for Kataji. And anything beyond being kind would either torment Kataji further by abusing his vulnerabilities, or would be forced on Nekohiko's part -- and thus, cruel.

The least he could do was accept his touch.

Wavering, Kataji drew his hand away. "I wasn't lying when I said I am not physically attracted to men or women I know," Kataji said. "But... you are not physically a man or a woman, Itsuki. So, in a way... I do want something more from you. I do feel much more in tune with you than with anyone else. That hurts a lot that you cannot reciprocate. But I understand it. I wish I myself were different and could be easily drawn to many other people, not just to you. So if I had a chance, to change myself and to become 'normal', I would take it."

Nekohiko sensed where this was going. He took a deep breath in. "Are you saying that if I want to -- you, as my Master, can order me what I choose and fundamentally change the way I am?"

Kataji swallowed. "Yes."

Well. This was exactly what Nekohiko had wanted to ask Kataji to do to him today. To command him by a blood order to not lose control of his own actions when he came in the vicinity of Abihiko.

Or maybe to be far less aggressive in general?

Or at least to never harm someone as innocent and helpless like Mikawa?

Many useful Blood Orders Kataji could do on him.

But he had thought Kataji would hate even the idea of commanding anything to Nekohiko. Turned out -- not really. The young man was oddly into it, so far.

"Itsuki," Kataji said, trembling. "Do you want me to make your preferences a bit different? To be able to like some people more or to dislike some others less? I can order you to have a better mood, for example, or to have a more fulfilling life... Would you want that?"

Nekohiko stilled, thinking.

No, none of that sounded like what he wanted to do. But at the same time -- Kataji was asking him something so minuscule. If Nekohiko accepted the offer and said, 'Yes, Kataji. Order me to be physically attracted to yourself' -- how much would that actually change in all of Nekohiko's plans against Abihiko?

The wedding would still be able to go on without any of the Dark Sisterhood complications inside Nekohiko's body...

It would make Kataji happy, and would not take anything from Nekohiko. The two of them would be able to move past their little recent problems. It would get rid of all of Kataji's jealousy and inferiority compared to Abihiko or Morokata. Because, if he ordered Nekohiko to "like" only himself -- then nobody else would even have the chance! Nekohiko would be unable to be drawn to them, and Kataji's mind would finally find peace.

Really, what would possibly be the drawback?

Yet it still took a lot of Nekohiko's courage to nod.

He did it rigidly as though through force. As though nothing in him wanted to actually do this.

"Kataji, I want you to order me to be physically attracted to yourself," Nekohiko whispered.

"What? No. That's not what I meant -- not so drastically--!" Kataji began protesting, but Nekohiko had already decided.

He had never actually cared about the romance and love and all that. He'd been bullied for not caring in his youth. So he wasn't losing anything if it changed.

"Once you order, it won't matter how drastic it is or not," he said. "I would derive joy from being with you. It wouldn't mean I'd be in love with you, of course. But it would mean that I might, one day. That I won't be averse to it. The free choice would still stay with me, so what is there to fear?"

Because, truly --

I want to reciprocate your kindness. I want to pay you back for everything you did to me.

I want to be nice to you. I don't want to be cruel. Never did.

I wish I could even without all this Blood Order magic, but that's just not who I am.

Alas.

"I don't mind it, trust me," he said again, then squeezed Kataji's shoulders with both his hands. "It's only a little tweak. It won't change much inside me -- I'll still be myself. Right? Plus, while we're at it. I want to ask you to give me a couple of other Master Orders.

"One, order me to never hurt anyone who's not attacking me."

"Two, order me to never lose control of my mind or my actions, especially when I'm next to your Eldest Brother."

Kataji flinched, his brow furrowing. "What-- why--"

"And three, order my body to not respond or engage with Dark Sisterhood's magic," Nekohiko finished, firm. "Can you do all that?"

***

It was much later that Kataji was finally coerced into doing this. Nekohiko had been pacing the room, hands waving in the air as he had elaborated on why it was all so important to him and why he believed it wouldn't matter much if Kataji ordered him once and for all. So much time, wasted on this endless discussion, ah!

Kataji was lying on the bed, aggravated out of his mind from all the arguing. But he agreed.

He agreed because maybe, Nekohiko thought, he didn't even want to fight it that much but did it solely to relinquish all responsibility for this decision.

Which -- sure. Nekohiko was willing to take full blame for anything that would go wrong with the Master Orders. He had no choice. Not when the wedding and wedding preparations were so damn close.

He needed to marry Abihiko without attacking him in front of everyone.

Not much choice he had, really. If all it took was a few Master Orders and placation of Kataji's mind? Then so be it.

He knelt down before Kataji as Kataji unbent from his shrimp position on the bed. The young man's hair hung in disorder across his face, his eyes blinked blurrily, and the overall air of hangover still veiled him.

"All right, I'll do it if you so insist," Kataji muttered into his palms rubbing his face.

Nekohiko had an idea.

He snapped his fingers into the spell formation for lifting drunkenness and headache again, and this time, Kataji did not reject the offer.

"Because if you do Master Orders on me, I now can do Binding on you freely," Nekohiko murmured, happy. Kataji closed his eyes in mute acceptance, yet he was smiling subtly as well.

One flash of Towa glow for cleansing the mind and the Nagare crackle to take care of the emotions -- and Kataji was much, much more refreshed and even perky all of a sudden.

So much that he looked like he'd go into another round of arguing. But Nekohiko was faster.

"You promised," he cut at him. "Don't you dare betray me like this, Kataji."

With Kataji having sobered up and recovered from his headache, even the messy Blood Order ritual didn't take long. The young man prickled the thin paper-knife into his thumb, drawing out a bright bead of blood that he then pressed onto Nekohiko's smooth white forehead. Kataji's face bore such a dejected expression as he did this as though he was ruining a perfect piece of art with something dirty.

Nekohiko forced his lips to quirk up in a smile to encourage him, but Kataji only shuddered.

"Ugh, Spirits, you should ask me to Master Order you to fix that bizarre smile of yours," Kataji huffed. "It's just wrong on so many levels, Itsuki!"

Nekohiko stopped smiling immediately.

"Now order me."

"As your Master -- I order you to not respond or engage with Dark Sisterhood's magic," Kataji enunciated as though afraid to mess it up. "To not harm those who do not attack you. To always keep control of your mind and actions, even when in the presence of..."

This little point had given Kataji a lot of time to push through during their argument, mainly because he had no idea why Nekohiko wanted it to be so specific. But Nekohiko had only told him that Abihiko scared the hell out of him, and Nekohiko usually just went sheep-like in his presence and now wanted to get rid of such an overreaction.

Kataji forced himself to go on, "In the presence of Abihiko of House Abi and House Hira. And lastly -- to be physically... attracted... to me."

His gulp was audible and painful in the silence after he was done.

Nekohiko's throat muscles and mouth worked out the usual -- "Yes, Master!" that always followed the Blood Order. He knew the Order had worked simply because he would never say something so ghastly to Kataji and with such a serious tone. This was compulsion, not his own doing.

Yet at the same time... he did not feel any other part of the Order take hold inside him.

Unlike that time in The Doll Palace when Kataji had forced him to walk toward him, nothing was now pushing Nekohiko's body to react. Well, perhaps that was the point. Kataji's current order wasn't directed at changing Nekohiko's body. Only his personhood.

Thus, it had to mean it worked...

Yes?

Nekohiko studied Kataji's face before him, amused by the absolute lack of change of perception toward this young man. Then again, what would "suddenly being physically attracted" to somebody feel like?

Nekohiko didn't know. So maybe this was it?

...

So, all right.

"Is everything fine?" Kataji asked him when the two of them walked down the stairs after giving Kataji a quick brush to his hair and a change of his outer clothes. Now that Kataji had sobered up, he claimed he was starving and needed a quick bite down in the inn's dining hall.

Nekohiko led the way, swiveling his head left and right to get a sense of anything really being different in his view after the Order.

Yet nothing seemed different. Phew. Perhaps the Master Orders weren't even as scary as people had made them out to be?

"I'm perfectly fine," Nekohiko replied, wanting to smile at Kataji. Then he remembered that Kataji disliked his creepy smile, so he didn't.

Instead, he pondered about doing something... what people who were physically attracted to one another did.

Because nothing had really changed in his behavior or perception, he wondered if he was simply overthinking this and was still forcing himself to deny his own attraction to Kataji.

And if so, then he could overpower his old habits. Absolutely.

At first tentatively, Nekohiko reached out his hand to Kataji's when they were entering the dining hall. The first touch of skin on wood was unpleasant -- as it had always been -- and Nekohiko wanted to whip his hand away.

But he pushed himself not to. Squirming all through his core, he slowly twined his wooden fingers with Kataji's warm ones. A gentle hue of pink colored Kataji's ears and cheeks brighter. The young man turned, lips half-open, and gave Nekohiko a numb look.

"You don't have to," he whispered.

"But I want to," Nekohiko said, feeling deep inside himself how much of a lie this statement was.

He did not want to touch anybody like this or in any other way! He didn't like this! He hated this!

This was... wrong.

Wrong!

Utterly wrong, and had always been!

He shuddered, finally slipping out of Kataji's hand because he simply could not bear it any longer. But luckily, Kataji did not notice the shift in his attitude:

Mikawa caught all of his attention.

"Hey, we were just coming down for dinner," Kataji announced to Mikawa who sat behind one of the dining tables in the half-filled room.

Yet Mikawa was already standing up, looking as though he was in an agitated hurry. Nekohiko hoped it wasn't because of himself.

"Dinner can wait," Mikawa told Kataji brightly and darted down the aisles between the tables and toward the entrance of the dining hall that led back into the inn's lobby. "We have to go, Master Kataji! Now!"

"What? Why--?"

Mikawa was still clearly not comfortable with being next to Nekohiko, but at least he no longer looked terrified. He gave Nekohiko a timid glance, then a much gleeful one -- to Kataji.

"Because they're here! I just got a Wind Whisper from them!" he gushed, then pelted into the lobby, dragging Kataji behind him by the sleeve. "They're finally here!"

Who? Who was finally here?

Aaaah, but of course!

Nekohiko had completely forgotten about what day this was with all the issues with Kataji. The second he and the other two young men emerged out of the inn's shadowy doors and into the glittering, rowdy festive Nara streets -- Nekohiko saw.

He saw, and he froze, and he felt his heart flutter up in the most delighted swoop.

Kasuga.

Aomi.

Here, at such an auspicious time -- strolling down the street as though they owned the place!

"Elder Sister!" Mikawa squeaked, rushing past the animated people on the street toward Kasuga.

Kasuga's face lit up like Nekohiko had rarely seen it. Her arms opened up, expectant, joyful, needy.

As though in the direct response to it, Aomi also broke into a run -- in the opposite direction. She shouldered Mikawa out of the way meanly, giggled about that, then thundered a stampede as she rammed into Kataji full-force.

"Elder Brothaaaa!" she wailed, springing onto Kataji as though wishing to flatten him into the ground.

"Wow, you're heavy," Kataji squeezed out meekly.

But he didn't fall and didn't try to get Aomi off himself. Rather, his arms wound around her back, albeit with a shy delay. Then his embrace tightened, his eyes closing as he dropped his chin on top of Aomi's head.

"I missed you so, moron," Aomi said into his chest, and only then did Kataji's eyebrows quirk up in his usual pissed-off pattern.

"You moron!" he spat, immediately shoving her away.

"You probably didn't even think about me at all!" Aomi looked as brimming with life as always but pulled her face into a pitiful grimace for an effect. "Busy with your stupid grand balls and receptions, whoring and gambling--"

"Whoring?!"

"Such a sinful place, the capital!" Aomi nodded grimly. "Of course my poor naive brother would fall an easy victim to it all." Her eyes swept off to Nekohiko, distrustful. But the longer she watched, the more pronounced her interest was. "We aren't acquainted," she said.

"Actually, we are," Nekohiko said.

Aomi's eyes sparked up in unabashed joy. "Itsuki?! Oh my... you look... so much taller than me," she ended with disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Aomi, but literally everyone is taller than you," Nekohiko slipped to her as he passed the first pair of siblings on his way to the other ones.

Kasuga and Mikawa had already exchanged very hushed-sounding secrets -- no doubt military ones -- and were sauntering toward the inn's entrance. Now that Nekohiko took a good once-over of the girls, Kasuga's stark-black uniform seemed especially spiky and menacing to him today. And so did Aomi's dramatic, half-metal, half-silk outfit in darkest purple with an underglow.

What did these two girls dress up for?

"We have an appointment at the Spring Sunlight shrine¹Do not forget that in Japanese, this Shrine would be pronounced as "Kasuga Taisha", so it's kind of cute when she says it ^^. ," Kasuga told Aomi, then explained to Mikawa and Kataji, "part of the wedding ceremony preparations on the Bride's side."

"Ah yes," Kataji hummed. "Mikawa, Itsuki, and I also have to go to the Palace for the preparations on the Groom's side, so--"

"I'd rather take a stroll with the girls," Nekohiko said. "Sorry, but your Eldest Brother's home is... not a place I'd want to be in today or... ever."

"Well, I understand. It's just Mikawa and me, then."

"Are Morokata and the Head Priest going to be present at the preparations on the Groom's side as well?" Kasuga demanded. "Because if they are, then I'd rather Mikawa didn't go."

"I'd rather not go either, and would just stay in my room, reading," Mikawa said very, very low. His face had a queasy tint to it, eyes staring wild before him -- as though remembering this very night and what he had witnessed between Abihiko and Nekohiko.

Little wonder he wasn't keen on hanging out with either, huh.

"Good for me," Kasuga told him, then turned to walk away, her back straight and head raised high. "Lady Abi, we are going to be late."

Aomi followed the exchanges with greedy curiosity, then quickly slid to Nekohiko and clasped her hands around his elbow, tugging him after Kasuga. "People who aren't late are not worth waiting for!"

The stroll with the two girls dressed-up for battle was surprisingly pleasant. Kasuga had finally learned how to behave in front of Aomi and all the young girl's overexcited ramblings. She no longer ignored her, but listened with a detached interest instead. Which mollified Aomi greatly, thus limiting the amount of nonsense she wanted to drown Kasuga in.

A genius tactic.

Though right now, most of the nonsense was directed at Nekohiko instead. Aomi was new to Nara, but unlike Mikawa and Kataji, she put up a facade of boredom with all the capital's glamour and shine. She scoffed at the fashions most passersby wore and sniffed dismissively at the gaudy ornaments put up on most buildings before the wedding festival. Instead, she blabbered to Nekohiko about the wedding and how much she hated Sakami, for some reason.

"I bet she's stupid and does not deserve my brother whatsoever! Ugh! Hisome pansy, as always!"

"Mn, mn," Kasuga echoed on Nekohiko's other side.

At least something these girls agreed on. Hating the Hisomes... and looking at Nekohiko askew, clearly stunned and smitten by his gorgeous new looks.

Ah, everyone was. How many people were chasing, hunting, and getting all jealous around Nekohiko lately? Abihiko, Kataji, Hibiki, Morokata... He had never felt so much in the center of everyone's attention. He disliked it, but not like he could do anything about it.

The woes of being pretty, mmmm.

"You look funny, though," Aomi told him at some point.

...funny?

"Not like I imagined you would look. At all. You aren't very imposing and, in fact, look so flimsy and weak for the twenty-one-year-old you claim to be."

Nekohiko choked in disbelief. "Well, thank you, Aomi."

"Like, have you seen my Eldest Brother? Now, he's tall and well-built!"

Nekohiko had been trying to recreate his own body from when he had died, and seeing as that happened at his sixteen -- no shit he was flimsy compared to a fully-grown adult!

"My brothers have a weird taste in men," Aomi mused under her nose.

Both Nekohiko and Kasuga politely ignored that. Although, deep inside, Nekohiko agreed.

The Spring Sunlight Shrine greeted them with the eons-old rustle of majestic cedars and pines surrounding the path up to the gates, with the chime of silver bells stretched between the branches and arches of the Shrine buildings, and with the ethereal glow of green and blue Bound fire inside the myriads of stone and bronze lanterns that peppered the ground here and there. Even though it was daytime, the lanterns burned, giving the place a mystic feel.

But the mystic feel dispelled fast.

"Your Majesty! Sweet Aomi!" Kotone's voice rang through the sacred front courtyard where Kasuga and Aomi went to cleanse their hands before entering. "Finally, you're here!"

The young priestess sneak-hugged them from the back before the girls could turn. Yet when she let them go and cast her gaze at Nekohiko beside them...

Kotone's eyes widened. A clear hue of recognition flickered there.

Nekohiko, Kotone's lips mouthed.

"We are gravely sorry for making you and our other meeting participants wait so long," Kasuga said, bowing. But neither Kotone nor Nekohiko paid her attention.

Nekohiko's heart quickened to a butterfly's flutter in his chest. Kotone recognized him! Kotone was smiling at him!

It was as though all these years apart hadn't happened...

"Unfortunately, a young man like yourself cannot attend the Bride's side meeting in the Shrine," Kotone said, stammering. "And we're already so late that I cannot give you a tour of the Shrine to properly welcome you here..."

"I'll just wait till Kasuga and Aomi are done," Nekohiko answered. "Don't worry. I'll sit on the bench under that maple over there. And wait."

"Mn!" Kotone winked at him and added, much lower, "The cat, though, is allowed to attend. He is currently sitting on the lap of the Shrine Maiden Haehime, already at the meeting. So, you know..."

"I know. I'll be right there." Nekohiko gave her a failed wink in response, then watched as the three young women -- all of them his allies and, more than that, his friends -- hurried up the Shrine's steps and into the cool, shadowy hallways.

He did as he told Kotone he'd do. He took a leisurely stroll over to the bench under the maple tree, surveying the front courtyard of the Shrine and the rare priestesses and priests snooping around in the background. The weather was nice, the place safe and serene. Once he seated himself on the bench, he did not feel insecure in abandoning his body here for a little while.

Just to see what the Bride's side meeting entailed.

And when he emerged there inside the cat, the first thing he saw was...

Haehime's blissful smile as she stroked Nekohiko's back.

Sakami's pained face as she stared at the floor.

Iokirihime's bland, unimpressed gaze directed at the door of the small tea-room they were all sitting in.

Kiyoko's murderous stare at the doors as well.

And in the doors -- Kotone, Aomi, and Kasuga, stilling as though a split second of quiet right before the tempest.

"Nagare," Kiyoko whispered under her breath. Her eyes shifted to Aomi next, and Kiyoko announced to Sakami as well, "Hira."

"Hisome," Aomi hissed in response, glaring at Sakami with all her loathing.

"Towa," Kasuga said, all of her focus going to Iokirihime instead.

...

"And us -- the Izumo girls!" Kotone and Haehime chimed in unison, then laughed, beckoning both newcomers into the room and to their seats around the table.

For the most intense tea-party Nekohiko could ever imagine.

Aaaaargh, he really didn't feel like "attending" this kind of a party, even as a cat! He half-closed his eyes from the shudder, and in that moment, he felt that his human body was being talked to.

By somebody...

...with a horribly familiar voice. A calm, if slightly cold, infinitely solemn voice.

"Nekohiko," the voice called.

His mind flickered over to the human body, his entire self awash with reverence.

Before the bench he sat on, shadowed by the dappling, swaying leaves above, stood Suminoe.

As elegant yet menacing as always.

"You did well, Nekohiko. You came back to me as I always wanted you to," Suminoe said, his face dark within the shadows. "I am so proud of you."